§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if journalists working alongside British forces in times of conflict are subject to the Service Discipline Acts. [148203]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 5 February 2001]: The Service Discipline Acts provide for the cases in which people accompanying British forces are subject to those Acts. This will be the case if a person accompanies British forces on active service or if a person is authorised by the Defence Council to accompany British forces outside the United Kingdom for the purposes of his profession or employment. In these circumstances a correspondent would be subject to the Service Discipline Acts.
During armed conflicts involving British forces, there is an established procedure under which correspondents are accredited as accompanying British forces. Only with such accreditation are correspondents accepted to accompany British units in the front line during the build-up to potential conflict or in war. As part of the procedure a correspondent applying for accreditation is given a copy of the MOD's regulations for correspondents accompanying an operational force. This includes information that an accompanying correspondent will be subject to Service law. For accreditation as an accompanying correspondent the applicant must also give some undertakings, including to comply with the relevant Service Discipline Act, while subject to naval, military or air force law.
Journalists who are in the theatre of operations of British forces but who are not accompanying them are not subject to the Service Discipline Acts.